Friends
by PerryGirl110
Summary: Austin and Ally are both in the same kindergarten class. They have never really noticed each other before. That is, until now. This is just a sweet story about how the two, before becoming partners and musicians, met for the first time in kindergarten. They don't remember it when they get older, but upon meeting each other they share an experience that causes them to become friends
1. Different

**This is my first fanfic that is going to be longer than a one-shot. Please review, it really motivates me to write more :)**

It was a normal kindergarten classroom. Nothing odd about it in any particular way. Just a plain old classroom, neither too big, nor too small. Just the right size to snugly fit the twenty four, five-year-old students bouncing around and chatting in between its bright yellow walls. A single teacher stood in the mix of all this chaos, trying unsuccessfully to gain control. A fake smile was plastered across her tired, 30-something-year-old face. The room was covered from head to toe in colorful paper butterflies and an array of "All about me" writing assignments, with the occasional appearance of a crudely drawn picture of a rainbow or rocket ship. It was exactly what one might expect a kindergarten classroom to look like. Completely basic, completely boring, completely ordinary...

There were, however, two students in that room that day who, in any definition of the term, were completely beyond ordinary. Unarguably extraordinary. No one knew it yet, but those two children would grow up be great people. To do great things. To express themselves to the world in the only way they knew how: music. Those two people would eventually find that they worked quite well together. They would become partners, complete each other in ways they could only imagine. They would fall in love. These two children were Austin and Ally.

That bright Monday morning, Austin Moon sat at the circle table in the middle of the room. Ignoring the teacher completely, he and his best friend Dez chatted loudly, deep in a very philosophical discussion about the awesomeness of dinosaurs. Their voices grew louder and louder in an attempt to drown out the surrounding noises. School bored Austin, but the one good thing was getting to talk to his best friend.

Two tables away, Ally Dawson sat in the front left of the classroom. Her eyes were wide as she studied the teacher, hanging on to every word she said. Ally was a good student. She would never talk while the teacher was teaching, and so instead she listened, and was probably the only one in the room doing so. She took her eyes off of her educator for only a mere second, so as to shush her best friend Trish, who was currently in the middle of a rather loud argument with a fellow classmate. Ally loved learning things, and so school, in her opinion, was the best time of the day.

After a long twenty minutes, the teacher, Miss Worth, had finally managed to quiet the class for just long enough to give instructions. She explained to them that she would hand each individual a worksheet. On each page would be a bunch of different pictures. They, using their newly taught skills and the help of a partner, would have to write what each picture showed. The entire class, excluding little Ally, groaned. They didn't want to write. In fact, they hated it! To get the class motivated, Miss Worth then remarked that after they were done they could color in the pictures. This quickly perked them all up.

Austin and Dez partnered up in an instant. They sat down at their table, and began to work, desperate to finish so as to get to the coloring. Ally and Trish were also partners. After getting up to grab their worksheets, they discovered that their seats were taken by another pair of girls. They maneuvered around the room until they reached a table in the middle of the classroom. Its surface was red and the chairs were yellow, Ally's two favorite colors. She took it as a sign and sat down with Trish, across from two boys. She paid no attention to them as she got down to work. Ally quite enjoyed writing and had no problem labeling the objects. Apple, Dog, Chair, Sock, Music, Pencil: all simple stuff that she had learned at the age of three. She zoomed through page after page, a dorky but adorable smile on her face. Trish, on the other hand, did no work whatsoever. She loved having Ally as a partner. Not only because she was her best friend, but also because Ally was so smart and did all the work without any assistance. Trish, being her lazy self, couldn't fight the temptation to just copy off Ally's paper.

Across the table, Austin and Dez did not have it so easy. They were half way through the first page when Austin looked up to the see the girls in front of him. He noticed that they were already three quarters done with the third page. It was unfair, he thought, that they were so far ahead of him! He looked back down at his paper. It suddenly looked weak and pathetic compared to the pretty brunette's neat handwriting and perfect precision. He did what any boy his age would do if this situation arose. He complained.

"This is so haarrrdddd," he moaned to Dez, "Why did she give us so much work to do? ITS IMPOSSIBLE!" At this, Ally lifted her head and looked up at the boy. She took notice of his bright blond hair and his chocolate eyes. "It's not that hard," she reassured him, "It's pretty easy actually. Let me help." Before Austin could respond, Ally pulled his packet over to her side of the table. She looked at it for a second before scooting over next to him. "See," she demonstrated to him, using her pencil eraser to point out the picture of the hand, "Its spelled h-a-n-d. Just sound it out. H for the "huh" sound, A and N for the "ann" sound, and D for the "duh" sound. Its really simple." She smiled brightly at him and he was taken aback by the shear sweetness incorporated into her face as she did so. "Ummm. I get it now. Thanks I guess," he said to her, not knowing what else to do. "Your welcome," she said cheerily before scooting back over to Trish and continuing to work on her packet. Absent mindedly, she began chewing her hair, a habit she had picked up whenever she was nervous or deep in thought. Austin stared at her for a second, realizing just how pretty she was, before turning back to work on his own packet as well. He knew suddenly that this was no ordinary girl. She was different. And he kind of liked that…

**This is just the intro to my story. I hoped you liked it, and don't worry, there is more where that came from. Don't forget to review :D**


	2. Stupid girl

**This is chapter two of my fanfic. Enjoy :)**

Ten minutes later, both Ally and Trish, along with Austin and Dez, had finished their packets and were now happily coloring. Miss Worth, their teacher and guardian, had temporarily left in order to call her balding, middle aged, motorcycle-riding boyfriend, leaving a room full of 24 kindergarten students alone and unsupervised. She wasn't what most people would call a "responsible" adult.

After checking over her work, Ally pulled out her new box of colored pencils. She had ordered them by color and each were perfectly tall and sharpened. Ally smiled at the visual appeal before continuing. Very gently, she pulled out the color red and started to lightly shade the apple. Making sure that she stayed completely inside the lines, Ally gently rolled her wrists across the paper. Up and down. Side to side.

On the other side of the table, Austin was doing the exact opposite. With a stupid but happy smile on his face, he scribbled his blue crayon all over the same picture of the apple. He paused for a second to admire his handiwork before switching to the color orange.

Suddenly, filled with the urge to see how her fellow classmates were doing, Ally lifted her head and looked at Austin's packet. She noticed his coloring and, being her nosy self, couldn't help but intrude. "You know your not doing that right," she said into the quietness. Austin looked up.

"Huh?" he questioned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean your not coloring that right," she replied, "You're supposed to color inside the lines. You're scribbling all over the paper."

Austin stood in silence. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this girl being serious? Did she really think that there was a wrong way to color?

Ally took advantage of his silence to continue her lecture. "And you're using the wrong colors," she went on, "Apples are either red or green. They're never blue or orange. The picture doesn't even look like a fruit anymore, much less an apple." Despite Ally's good intentions, the words came out as an insult.

Austin finally found his voice. "So?" he said defensively, "What's wrong with that?"

Now it was Ally's turn to be confused. "What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that is that the whole point of coloring is to make the picture look more realistic." She said this in a matter-of-fact tone, as if what she was telling him was obvious and completely unarguable.

"No its not," Austin disagreed, "The point of coloring is to have fun and create something cool and new. Like mine." He pointed to his picture before continuing. "Mine is really cool. Yours is just boring."

A look of hurt crossed Ally's young face as she defended her artwork. "It is not boring," she mumbled angrily at him, "Its pretty and correctly drawn. Yours is messy and it doesn't look real. Its... its…." Ally paused for a second, not knowing how to finish her sentence. She narrowed her eyes at him before speaking up. "UGLY. Yeah that's it, its really ugly." Ally smiled at him smugly, proud of her feeble comeback.

Austin pouted and glared at her. "Ugly is better than _boring,_" he retorted.

"Mine is not boring," Ally repeated, "its just neat."

"Neat is STUPID!" Austin mumbled at her. This infuriated Ally.

"YOU'RE STUPID!" she nearly yelled at him. She rarely insulted others, but this boy had really riled her up. He had somehow managed to push all her buttons, and so despite all her usual patience, Ally exploded. Her cheeks were flushed with anger and she grit her teeth as she glared at his stupid face.

"NUH UH!" he yelled back, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHOS STUPID!"

Before Ally could even think about what to say next, Trish stood up. Ally had completely forgotten that she was there.

"That's enough!" Trish yelled to Austin, "No one, and I mean NO ONE, insults my best friend!"

At this, Dez stood up as well. "Hey, hold on there," he said to Trish, "SHE was the one who started it, not Austin."

Trish's tiny fists were scrunched up as she turned to him. "Ally was just trying to help, he didn't have to go and INSULT her picture."

"He wasn't insulting it. It was constructive criticism," Dez said smugly.

"THAT'S IT!" screamed Trish. She jumped up from her seat and started running at him. Dez screamed, high and girlish, as he jumped from his seat and scampered around the room. Trish chased him, her wild eyes filled with rage.

Despite the distraction, Ally and Austin continued to glare at each other. Finally, Ally broke the nasty silence. "You're so immature," she huffed at him, "Come on Trish, we're finding another table." Trish, currently in the middle of giving Dez the beating of his life, looked up from her victim. "I couldn't agree more," she replied as she released her fistful of the red head's hair, "Let's go." Trish joined her friend's side as they both stormed away from the table.

Austin rolled his eyes, a pout still on his lips. "Who cares?" he muttered to himself, "She's just a stupid, boring, bossy girl. Why would I want her to sit next to me anyway? I'm glad she's gone. She's just a girl. Just a stupid girl."

**Okay the chapter is officially over, so please review. To be honest, I don't know exactly what to write next. I have a basic idea but I could really use some help. If you have an idea of what I should write next, please tell me because at the moment i'm kinda stuck. Thanks :D**


	3. Stupid boy

An hour later the bell rang, telling the kindergarteners that it was time for recess. The children in room 209 ran out of class, a huge smile on each and every one of their faces. Once outside on the playground, they separated into groups, depending on who their friends were.

Ally and Trish were one of these groups. They ran towards the swings, only to find that they were taken by the same two girls who stole their seats in class. Ally groaned. "This is the third time this week they've taken the swings," she complained, "What are we going to do now?" Trish gave a devious smile. "I know how to get those girls off our swings…" she said mischievously. Trish started walking towards the girls, but Ally pulled her back. "Come on, Trish," she said, "Let's just find something else to do. Its not worth it."

Ally eventually came across a red rubber dodge ball sitting on the pavement. "We can play with this," she told Trish with false cheer. The girls began boredly bouncing the ball between each other. Over and over and over again. Suddenly, Trish hit the ball too hard. It flew in the air and landed over the fence. Ally sighed. Knowing her best friends laziness, she immediately started to go get it. Slowly, she trudged across the pavement to the field.

While Ally and Trish were busy bouncing around a dodge ball, Austin and Dez were also on the pavement. After coming out on to playground, Austin had suggested that they play basketball. "Sure," Dez had replied before pulling out a bright red rubber ball seemingly out of nowhere, the word _Dez_ inscribed on it in black sharpie. "Dez!" Austin complained, "That's not a basketball, it's a dodge ball. How are we supposed to play with that?"

"Its better than nothing," Dez said cheerily. He picked up the ball and threw it over his shoulder towards the net, trying to make a backwards shot. He missed by a long shot. It sailed over the hoop, bounced on the pavement, and rolled under the swings, to be unseen by anyone. Dez turned around. "Where did it go?" he asked Austin. Austin turned and looked across the playground. Suddenly, he spotted a bright red dot in the middle of the field. "There it is!" shouted Austin, "It must have gone over the fence. I'll get it!" He started running towards the ball.

Meanwhile, Ally had finally reached the field. She spotted the ball and slowly began reaching out her hands. Just as she had placed her delicate fingers around the curvature of the red rubber, the ball was snapped away from her fingers. "Huh?" Ally looked up, confused as to what had just happened. Her eyes were met with the sight of a little blond boy with big brown eyes. She internally groaned. _Not him again._

"Give that back," she said angrily, "That's mine!"

"No its not," Austin replied with an equal amount of hostility, "Its MINE!"

"Don't be a liar," Ally spit at him, "Trish accidently bounced the ball over here while she was passing it to me. Its ours."

"NO!" Austin argued, "Dez accidently threw the ball over here when he missed a basketball shot. Its OURS!"

"No its NOT!" Ally yelled at him as she put her hands on the rubber, "Give it back! Me and Trish were playing with this!" She attempted to pull the sphere from his small hands. He pulled back, anger on his face.

"NUH UH!" Austin spat back, " Me and Dez were playing with this. NOW LET GO!"

The two children were so enthralled in fighting over the ball that they didn't notice when the rest of the class started filing out of the playground and into the school. The door closed, and suddenly the two children were left alone.

Finally, fed up with the fighting, Austin decided that he'd just have to show this girl that this was his. "I can PROVE to you that this ball isn't yours!" he yelled to her. She glared at him. "Fine!" Ally replied, "Then what are you waiting for? PROVE it!" She dropped the ball and crossed her arms, waiting.

Austin picked up the ball from where it had fallen. "Look," he said as he slowly turned it in his hands, "Dez's name is on here. It is! I just know it is! It has to be!" Desperation filled his voice as he continued to search. Ally gave a smug smile as Austin continued to turn the ball, finding that it was completely unmarked.

"See?" she finally said, "I told you that its mine."

"But I… But how…" Austin stuttered, "But… if that's yours, then where is mine?"

Ally looked over the playground. Her eyes spotted a red dot, which was just barely visible under the edge of the slide. She pointed. Austin's eyes widened. "Ohhhhhhhhh" he whispered quietly. A blush crept up on his cheeks as he realized that he was wrong. Embarrassment overcame him.

"Sorry," he murmured, looking down at his shoes. Ally smiled smugly. She opened her mouth to speak, but her words quickly turned into a gasp. "Huh?" Austin asked, "What happened?"

"The class!" Ally yelled in surprise and worry, "They left! They must have went inside while we were fighting."

The children sprinted to the door. Ally grabbed the handle and shook it, but nothing happened. "Let me try," Austin said as he pushed her to the side. He did the same but the door still wouldn't budge. "Uh oh," he said, "I think we're locked out."

Ally gasped again, her eyes wide with fear. "OH NO!" she screamed, "How are we going to get back in! WE'RE MISSING VALUABLE INFORMATION!"

Austin rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he mumbled, "Its not like it matters or anything."

Ally didn't respond. Austin could hear her shaky breaths as she took in the situation.

Finally she spoke up. "What if the teacher finds out that we're not in class?" she asked him, in a scared voice that broke his heart, "We'll get in huge trouble! I've never gotten in trouble before!"

"Relax," Austin assured her, "We just have to get her attention so she'll open up the door and then we can explain to her what happened!"

Ally slowly nodded. She began to pound on the door, yelling for Miss Worth. Austin did the same. Both remained unheard.

Finally Austin sighed. "This is hopeless," he mumbled, "Lets just sit down and wait."

Ally sighed as well. "I guess your right," she agreed, "The class is releasing our butterflies outside in half an hour anyway. We'll just have to stick it out and wait for them to come out again."

Austin nodded and they both sat down at opposite sides of the door. Facing away from each other.

"This is your fault," Ally whispered to him, "If you hadn't took my dodge ball none of this would have happened."

"Its not my fault," Austin said defensively, "How was I supposed to know that it was your ball and not mine?"

Ally didn't respond. The two kids sat in silence, anger seething through their veins. If Ally knew one thing, it was that she would, under no circumstances, talk to this mean kid. She didn't like him, and he didn't like her. She was perfectly fine with just sitting in silence for the next thirty minutes. Anything to avoid speaking to this mean, immature, stupid boy. He's just a boy anyway. Just a stupid boy.


	4. Little Butterfly

**This is the last chapter of my fanfiction. As you can probably tell by the fact that I've been updating every day, I have NO life XD. February vacation started this week and since all my friends are traveling somewhere, I have NOTHING to do. LOL XD, anyway enjoy!**

The two children sat in silence for what felt like hours, but in actuality was only a few minutes.

Ally lay completely still, watching the squirrels scamper up trees. All she could hear was the gentle sound of paws scratching against bark and the soft whoosh of the wind. Being a social butterfly, Ally felt as if she were drowning in silence. She wanted so badly to talk, or laugh, or sing, or just do something, ANYTHING, to thin out the nasty quiet surrounding her. But she didn't. She couldn't. Couldn't bring herself to speak to that boy. Not because she was angry at him, but because of her own insecurities. She was too shy and unconfident to bring herself to talk first, to a boy she had just screamed at. If anybody was going to talk, it had to be him.

Austin too was finding the silence hard to stand. He focused only on his breathing. In and out. In and out. In and out. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. It thumped out a beat that somehow seemed to comfort him. He closed his eyes and just felt. Felt his heart pound inside of him. Felt the way his chest rose and fell with every breath. He was suddenly aware of the girl sitting near him. He found himself unconsciously paying attention to her every move. Ever time she shuffled her feet he knew it. Every time she let out a small breath he heard it. Every time her little heart beat in her tiny chest he felt it. He didn't know how, but he did. Finally, he couldn't take the quiet anymore. And so he spoke.

"What's your name anyway?" he said gruffly into the silence. His voice shocked Ally out of a deep trance.

"Oh. Um… Ally. Ally Dawson," she replied hesitantly, "What's… um… your name?"

Austin found the corners of his lips turning upward. He couldn't help it. He liked her name. _Ally._ It sounded right in his mind. He quickly erased the smile from his lips. He couldn't let her know about his moment of weakness.

"Austin. Austin Moon," he told her, trying to add hostility into his voice. He expected silence, but instead was surprised when she released a cute giggle.

"Huh?" Austin asked, "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing," Ally replied nervously, "Its just that… your last name is Moon and mine is Dawson. Get it… like da sun. The moon and the sun. They… match."

Austin smiled slightly. "Yeah," he replied, "I guess they do."

They sat in awkward silence for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Finally, Austin spoke up. He couldn't stand this awkwardness anymore. He went straight to the point. "Are we still… are we still mad at each other?"

Ally sighed. "I guess not," she said sadly, "To be honest I probably shouldn't have been mad at you in the first place. I mean, my mom always used to tell me that everybody deserves a second chance. I should have just forgave you immediately."

Austin looked up from his shoes and stared at her. "Your mom USED to tell you that? She doesn't anymore? Is she like dead or something?"

As soon as he said that, he wished he hadn't. He threw his hand over his mouth and groaned silently. He was young, but even he knew how inappropriate it was to ask someone directly if their mom was dead. He just hoped it didn't upset her too much. To his relief, Ally objected.

"No, no. Nothing like that. Its just that um…" she gulped before she continued, "My mom and dad are divorced and last month my mom kinda moved to Africa to study gorillas."

Austin noticed the sadness in her voice. "So… do you miss her?"

Ally nodded slowly. "I mean, I'm really proud of her and stuff, and I'm so glad that she's getting to live her dream, but I just can't help but miss her. She's my mom and I miss spending time with her every day. "

"Is she ever coming back?" Austin whispered, worry in his voice.

"She said she'll come visit as soon as she can, but I don't think she'll be moving back here for a long time." Despite how hard Ally was trying to hold it all in, she felt a single tear slip down her cheek.

Austin opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again. Instead, he stood up. He moved from where he was sitting and sat down right next to her. He hoped his very presence was enough to tell her that he cared. It was.

They sat in silence again, but this time the silence was neither heavy nor awkward. It was comfortable and sweet, and it made both of the children feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Finally, Austin broke the silence. "You know, um, if you like ever need like, someone to talk to, since your mom is gone, I could um…" he faltered for a moment before continuing, "I could be that person. I mean, if you want to, you can talk to me if you're upset or something. I'd be happy to listen."

Ally smiled at him. "Thanks," she said with gratitude in her face, "That's really sweet."

Austin smiled back at her. He looked directly into her caramel colored eyes and he felt his insides melt.

"Hey," he said suddenly, trying to change the subject, "Weren't you the girl who wrote the butterfly song for our class last week?"

"Yep," Ally said cheerily.

"It was REALLY good," replied Austin, "much better than the other choice."

"Thanks," Ally said happily, "I want to be a song writer when I grow up."

"Really?" he replied, "I want to be a singer."

"That's cool," she said with a smile. "You know, we have a lot more in common than I first thought. You're actually really nice. Maybe… we could be friends one day."

Austin's smile grew larger than ever. "Maybe," he replied.

The two children sat smiling at each other. Austin opened his mouth, ready to say something. Suddenly, the door swung open. The class came pouring out. Austin and Ally jumped up from where they sat and joined the children, their absence remaining unnoticed by the teacher and the majority of the class. They both decided unanimously that they wouldn't tell the teacher of their little "adventure." It would remain between the two of them. They followed their peers as they went to the edge of the fence. Ally was nearly bursting with excitement as she prepared herself for what she knew would happen next.

The teacher pulled out a net cage and slowly opened it up. Out flew six beautiful butterflies, fluttering their wings as they took their first taste of freedom. Ally remembered the first day they had arrived. The teacher had ordered six young caterpillars online. It was supposed to teach the children all about metamorphism. Most of the children hadn't cared much, but Ally had watched with fascination as the butterflies ate, grew, and formed cocoons. She had gasped with excitement when the cocoons had broken, and the beautiful butterflies had crawled out, wings newly formed and delicate. And now, here they were, being released into the world. As they flew away, they reminded Ally of her strange friendship with Austin.

In the past thirty minutes, their whole relationship had metamorphosed from one of enemies to a strong friendship that neither had expected. Just as the butterflies flew away, Ally knew that so would their friendship. They probably wouldn't talk again after today… at least for a while. One day maybe their friendship will come back. Maybe then she and Austin could really become friends. Could really get to know each other. She smiled to herself. She was already looking forward to it.

After the butterflies had been released and the class had started to go back inside, Dez managed to catch up with Austin. "Hey," he asked, "where were you? I was looking for you everywhere."

Austin looked at him happily. "Nowhere really," he said with a smile, "I was just talking to a little butterfly."

**Okay, my fanfic is now over. I really hoped you liked it, please review :)**


	5. Memory

**You know how I told you guys how chapter 4 was going to be the last chapter? Well I lied** **XD. I wasn't going to write** **this but I got a request from someone and I thought it was a really good idea, so I decided to just go for it. So special thanks to DisneyLover16! I also wanna thank everybody who reviewed my fanfic. Like literally, you guys are all so awesome your reviews just make my day! THANKS!**

11 YEARS LATER

"Come on Trish, Hurry up!" Ally yelled, "Its in here!"

The 16-year-old brunette waited patiently as her Latino friend climbed the pull out stairs behind her. Trish looked around the room, wide-eyed.

"Wow Ally," she said, "You sure have a LOT of boxes."

Ally shrugged. "Its just old stuff," she replied, "But don't worry, we don't have to look through them all. I know which box its in."

Ally immediately started to sift through the pile of cardboard, causing a cloud of dust to rise up and blow into Trish's face. She coughed violently.

"How long has it been since you've been up here?" she asked through coughs, "Its dirtier up here than under Dez's bed, and that's saying something!"

Ally rolled her eyes and continued fighting through boxes, making her way to the back of the attic. She carefully moved through a maze of rusting instruments and rotting music sheets; stuff from Sonic Boom that they had never managed to sell. Her dad never threw anything away, and so instead of going in the trash where they belonged, these unworthy instruments were sent up here to take up space and rot away into dust.

Suddenly, Ally banged her knee into an old tuba. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain. It served as a reminder to move her mind away from her dad's hoarding and just focus on finding what she needed. She took a deep breath and continued. Finally, she found her way to a box marked with the words "_Ally's Stuff." _She smiled.

"Here it is!" she yelled to Trish. Quickly, Ally lifted the flaps. Inside was a jumble of objects from her past:

A few old dolls dressed in cute little bows and fluffy dresses. A pair of worn out ballet slippers with a hole on the toe. A red and yellow paper butterfly with crumpled wings. A shiny white flute which, despite its age, was in near perfect condition. A first place trophy won during a piano playing competition. A tie-dyed pillowcase from camp. A woven basket she had made for her dad. A leather bound diary which had become Ally's first song book, but had been filled up years ago only to be replaced by an exact replica. And, at the very bottom of the pile, an old brown scrapbook.

That was what she was looking for.

She pulled the scrapbook from the box and gently blew on the cover, sending dust flying. Trish came up from behind as Ally gently opened it up.

The first picture was of a sleeping infant. Its eyes were closed and its pink cheeks stood out against its pale body. A few scraps of dark brown hair stood on its head, and the rest of its tiny figure was wrapped in a soft pink blanket. Holding it was a young woman with brown hair and a huge smile on her face, despite the weary look in her eyes. Next to the women was a beaming man with a head full of hair and the brightest eyes Ally had ever seen. She smiled at the picture. It made her happy to see how excited both her parents were to have received her.

Trish spoke into the quiet. "That's you?" she whispered, "You're so tiny."

Ally nodded and flipped the page. It was filled with an array of baby pictures. Ally smiled at them. She was too young at the time to have any recollection of those events, but looking at the pictures still gave her a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach that one might get when remembering a good time long ago. She stared at them for a second before shaking her head, waking herself out of her self-made trance.

"Ok Trish," she said to her best friend, "Pass me the stack of papers I told you to bring. I'm gonna start gluing them in."

Ally hadn't touched her scrapbook in nearly a year now. She had been pretty busy these past months with the whole "becoming a songwriter for a famous pop star" thing. Last week, she had finally decided that it was time to update. And boy did she have a LOT to add! This year had been a big one.

"Do you want to help me with my scrapbook?" Ally asked Trish, "It'll be fun!"

"Not at all!" replied Trish with a shake of the head, "How about I go get something to eat from Mini's and YOU can work on the scrapbook. That's a MUCH better idea!"

Ally rolled her eyes as her best friend scampered off into the unknown. She shrugged her shoulders. It was probably better to do this alone anyway.

Before she began her project, Ally started to look through the scrapbook again. She couldn't help herself! She felt as if she were drawn to the pictures. Ally turned page after page, feeling as if she were reliving the past. She flipped past the baby photos and reached the photos of her preschool year. Ally laughed silently at the pictures of her and Trish. They both looked so young and innocent back then.

Finally she reached the kindergarten photos. Again, it was mostly just pictures of her and Trish. But she did happen to come across a class photo. She stared at it for a minute. She and her Latino friend were near the front right of the picture, smiles on both of their faces. She looked at the kids surrounding them. Some she could recognize. Her eyes scanned over the faces of the familiar, and some not so familiar, children. Her eyes went right over the faces of a little blond boy and a stalky red head. She passed over them without thinking, but then took a second look. _Is that what I think it is?_

The two boys were obviously best friends. They had smiles on their faces as wide as Lake Erie and appeared to be leaning on each other. She stared at the blond boy. He just looked so…. familiar. As if she knew him before. As if he was a long lost, forgotten toy from childhood. Suddenly, it hit her. Was he… _Austin?_ And the boy next to him? Was that… _Dez? _She looked at them and realized with a sudden jolt that those kids WERE Austin and Dez. They had to be.

"They were in my class?" Ally wondered to herself. She squinted her eyes, trying to recall memories from kindergarten, but it was all a blurry mess. So instead she just looked down at the little blond boy. She focused on his cute hair, his bright smile, his chocolate eyes, and suddenly she was attacked by a flood of memories.

Austin. The boy she had helped with his packet. Austin. The kid she fought with over how to color. Austin. The guy who tried to take her dodge ball. Austin. The classmate she had gotten locked outside with. Austin. The friend who she talked to about missing her mom.

A smile spread across her lips. How could she have forgotten?

Ally thought back to that day. The way they had fought over the stupidest things. She laughed silently. Some things seem like such a big deal when you're young. It amused her the way they became enemies on the basis of coloring. It was even funnier when she realized that she and Austin had had that same dispute only a few months ago. She laughed again, this time out loud. She remembered how she had only colored inside the lines. She had thought it was the only right way to do it. Thank god Austin came around and showed her that its okay to color outside the lines every once in a while.

Suddenly she thought back to the things she had admitted to Austin. She had told him all about how much she missed her mom. Ally sighed. The first year without her had been the toughest. But she had gotten through it. She had jumped over that hurdle, and now here she was, on her way to the finish line. "I've changed a lot since then. Haven't I?" Ally thought to herself. She really had. She remembered how insecure she had been before. How nervous and fidgety and unconfident. Yet here she was now. She had become a songwriter for a famous pop star. Had written numerous hit songs that were all over the radio. Had been accepted to a prestigious music school. Had sung in front of a large crowd at a Halloween party. And had even gotten on the cover of the most popular teen magazine in the country. She smiled to herself.

Ally began to work on updating her scrapbook. Each thing she pasted was a reminder of all the things she had accomplished this year:

The cover of the magazine "Cheetah Beat" with her and Austin bungee jumping. The article about how she had saved the music program at an elementary school. The acceptance letter from MUNY. And most importantly, the pictures of her and her three best friends that they had taken together in the photo booth at the carnival.

Of all the things she had accomplished this year, what she was most proud of was her friends. She loved them to pieces. Together they were Team Austin. Being part of Team Austin was greater than anything she could ever imagine. Her friends were her greatest accomplishments.

HE was her greatest accomplishment.

* * *

Austin and Dez were hanging out as always, competitively shooting hoops on Dez's driveway.

"Watch this!" Austin yelled as he did a backwards shot. The ball landed perfectly in the net.

"Oh yeah?" Dez taunted, "Watch THIS." He dunked the ball, which wasn't too impressive considering the fact that they had lowered the hoop a good 3 inches this morning.

Austin scoffed at him. "I bet you can't do this," he said as he threw the ball in the net from all the way back on the porch.

"That was impressive," replied Dez skeptically, "But I bet even you can't do THIS!" Dez took a needle out of his pocket and jabbed it into the ball. Air leaked out of it like a faucet and soon it was as flat as a pancake.

"DEZ!" screamed Austin, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"

Dez looked down at the now flattened ball. He shrugged. "I dunno," he replied. He threw the ball behind him and into the depths of oblivion. From a distance you could hear the sound of a car horn and the loud crash as it banged into a tree.

Austin sighed. "Do you have any more basketballs?" he asked, annoyance in his voice. "I don't know," replied Dez cheerily, "Why don't you go check the garage."

"Sure," replied Austin as he began walking to the bright yellow door. He typed in the code, which he had took to heart, and watched as it lifted to reveal a hurricane of old junk. He groaned. This was going to take awhile…

After 30 minutes of sifting through an array of rusting bikes, broken toys, rotting newspapers, and an abandoned raccoon's nest, Austin came across a bright red rubber ball.

He looked at it carefully. Despite the dirt and grime built up on its rubber surface, it appeared to be in pretty good shape. He shrugged. "I guess it will have to do," he whispered to himself, "Its better than nothing."

Austin attempted to wipe off some of the dirt. Using the edge of his shirt, he began rubbing at the grime with far more force than necessary. After a good thirty seconds he pulled his shirt away. What stood before him was the name _Dez,_ inscribed in black sharpie, on the polished surface of rubber. He stared at it for a second. Something was tugging at his memory strings. He closed his eyes in concentration.

And it hit him. Full on. He remembered everything. Everything but one single detail. Everything but her name.

That girl. The girl with the long brown hair and caramel eyes. What was her name?

The girl with the laugh like silk and the bright pearly smile. What was her name?

The girl with the neat handwriting and the mature attitude. What was her name?

The girl who sang the butterfly song and— wait a second. The butterfly song. The girl had sang the butterfly song! The girl was ALLY!

He hit himself for not realizing it sooner. How stupid could he be? Of course it was Ally! The way she had helped him with his packet. The way she had only colored inside the lines. The way she told him how she wanted to be a songwriter. It all screamed Ally. How could he have missed it?

A smile formed his lips as he thought about what happened that day. The way they had fought over the dodge ball and had gotten locked outside. The way Ally had talked to him. Told him of her problems. Trusted him to listen. And the way he had told her that she could tell him anything. Because he just loved hearing her talk.

He laughed as he thought about just how special Ally was. She was like no other girl he'd ever seen. He knew she was different the moment he saw her. The way she had just come up to him, pulled his packet from his hands, and helped him answer the questions. The way she had smiled at him sweetly before turning away. He fell in love with that smile the first time he saw it. To this very day he still loves that smile.

Austin thought about the past year and pondered just how much Ally meant to him. He thought about the day he'd met her in kindergarten and remembered the huge fight they had about coloring. It was funny how attached he'd grown to that girl. The same girl who he had screamed at and called boring. Just goes to show how little importance the fights between children hold. They are over the simplest things and mean almost nothing. The fight had been a huge deal at the time, but now it meant nothing. Now Ally was one of Austin's closest friends. Now Ally was his song writer. Now Ally was his everything.

Suddenly, Dez yelled, shocking Austin out of his thoughts. "Are you done yet?" he screamed. Austin shook his head. "No. Not yet," he replied. He quickly put down the ball and took out his phone.

He figured it was about time he called his little butterfly.

**Okay. NOW this fanfic is done. This chapter is probably not as good as it could have been considering the fact that I got NO sleep last night and i cant really think straight. LOL, i would have waited until tomorrow but i just want to get this fanfic over with so I can start my new idea. Anyway, please review :D**


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